Missing Elements
by inthepineforest
Summary: Continuation of The Forest. While the Doctor and Donna try to help the planet they landed on, something unexpected happens.


**A/N: Hi! This is something like a sequel to my previous story The Forest. Please leave a review to tell me what you think! I apologize for any mistakes and I hope you like it! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.**

"So," the Doctor said, leaning forwards in the couch, with that sparkle in his eyes, expressing both his excitement for the upcoming adventure and the possibility of helping these people. "I need you to tell me everything, absolutely everything, every teeny-tiny detail you can think of about the problem."

"Okay," replied Hampton gratefully but then concern appeared on his face. "A little help would be great, really, but are you sure you want to deal with our problems?"

"You can be absolutely sure that I am sure!"

The Doctor jumped to his feet and started walking around. He neared one of the many messy bookcases, grabbed a random book and went through it. It wasn't any different than books on Earth. It was covered in a thick layer of dust and on its cover the word "Geography" was engraved in golden letters. There were maps of the planet and the continents and basic information about the climate, animals and plants. The Doctor returned the book to its place and faced Hampton, a thought suddenly occurring to him.

"I forgot to ask, how did you find us?"

"We have a control room from which we monitor the Forest. We can see every corner of it," Bill explained. A little voice in the back of his mind was telling him there was something strange about that tall, skinny man, looking so old and young at the same time. Why would he want to help them? Why not just leave, especially when he had nearly died here?

"Can you show us that room? Donna, what d'you say?" the Doctor asked his companion, who was eyeing Bill.

"Yeah, right!" she answered. "Let's go."

"If you could just wait outside, we'll be with you in a minute." Hampton stood up, clearly waiting for them to exit the room.

"Sure! Yeah…" The Doctor opened the door and waited for Donna to walk out and followed her, closing it behind him.

"What was that? He practically kicked us out!" Donna hissed, looking rather indignant.

"Well, I'm sure they have their reasons, we can't invade their privacy-"

"Shh! Listen!"

Donna had put her finger on the Time Lord's lips to stop him from talking and was now concentrated on the muffled voices behind the wooden door.

"…don't think so…"

"…you can't be sure…"

Both the red-haired woman and the Time Lord strained their ears and could finally distinguish what the two men were saying.

"I'm telling you, sir, we have to be careful! We still don't know who they are or if they actually want to help us."

"I guess you do have a point, yeah…" the older man trailed off.

"And besides," Bill continued convincing him, "he said he was a doctor but of what? Exactly? Doesn't look like one to me. And the woman? What is she? A nurse?"

"Fine, alright. I'll send someone to follow them around and to gather information about them."

The conversation ended and the Doctor and Donna heard the approaching footsteps and drew back a second before the door flew open. They both smiled as if on cue and the Doctor even waved at the two men.

"Come on, let's go." Hampton hurried down the corridor, Bill trotting behind him like a dog.

The Doctor and Donna lagged behind so they could discuss what they had just heard without being disturbed. She opened her mouth, wanting to express her anger but he started talking first.

"They have every right to be suspicious; we did kind of… well… come uninvited. Well, actually appeared out of the blue."

"Yeah, but…"

"We'll keep an eye on that guard, won't let him eavesdrop on us, and we'll try to earn their trust. After all, we want to help them."

"Okay, s'pose you're right. But it was still foully!"

"A bit, yeah," the Doctor agreed and grinned. Donna couldn't help, but smile back. Suddenly, she felt calm. Everything would be alright; it always was in the end, when she was with him.

While they were talking, they had passed several doors, some of them wooden, while others were made of steel and something important was probably behind them. Now they stopped before a steel one, two guards standing in front of it.

"This is Donna and this is the Doctor," Hampton introduced them.

"Hello!" said the Time Lord lively and Donna smiled.

"Ma'am, sir," the guards greeted them.

"Please, don't call me sir. Hate that. Now, let's see this room, shall we?"

The two friends were led into the room, alongside Hampton and Bill. It wasn't very big and it was quite dark, the only light coming from the monitors, covering one of the walls. Except for a table and two chairs in one of the corners, there wasn't anything else.

"Wow, you really do see every corner of it!" Donna remarked. "It looks a lot similar, though."

"Well, everything is just cloned," the Doctor said, studying the monitors. "Artificial copies of one another. I mean it's not that hard to go and take a few DNA samples from trees and animals and other stuff and make a forest out of them. I have to admit it lacks imagination a bit; it should've had more diversity but it's really great, amazing, brilliant! Just the air, if we could fix that, everything will be perfect! We could…"

"Time boy!" Donna interrupted his rambling.

"Yeah?"

"Let them talk!"

"Oh, sorry!" he apologized and looked at them.

"We have a team of scientists which are working on the air problem but they've done nothing so far," Hampton began. "If you agree, I can show you the lab and you can perhaps help them?" he suggested with a sparkle of hope in his voice.

"Of course, yeah, but first things first, I want to see my TARDIS, make sure she's okay."

"Sure. Follow me."

All four of them exited the premise and strolled a dozen of corridors and finally arrived in front of another steel door. Bill typed a code into the door, then fumbled in his pockets before pulling out a key and unlocking it.

When they got in, Donna and the Doctor had the same expression, and so did Bill and Hampton. The former were just waiting, looking a bit confused, while the latter were shocked.

"So, where is she?" Donna asked.

"It was here, right here, I swear! It should've been here!" Bill franticly looked around.

"Well, for starters, she's a she not an it. And why is _she_ not here?" The Doctor's voice sounded annoyed and a bit worried.

"I-I don't know!" Hampton stuttered.

"Oh, but I think you do!" the Time Lord hissed, The Oncoming Storm suddenly visible in his eyes. "We heard you! What you said in your office! You two think we can't be trusted, that we're some kind of double-dealers and I thought "yeah, it's normal not to trust us yet" but concocting such a cheap trick, oh that's low!"

All of a sudden, a voice was heard, coming seemingly from everywhere.

_"__All the citizens gather in the main square, an announcement must be made! Go now, fast as you can, chop-chop!"_

"What?!" Hampton ran out of the room, and they all followed him through another set of corridors and when they got to the square, it was already full of people.

_"__Now that you are all here, let's greet our special guest. Hello Doctor!"_


End file.
